ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan has reiterated that durable peace in South Asia is contingent upon peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with international legitimacy.
In his message on the Kashmiris’ Right to Self-Determination Day, the prime minister vowed that Pakistan will continue to extend all possible support to the Kashmiris till the realization of their inalienable right to self-determination and a just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
The UNSC commitment of a UN-supervised plebiscite in Kashmir remains unfulfilled as the Hindutva Modi govt brazenly violates UNSC resolutions, int humanitarian laws & int conventions incl 4th Geneva Convention; & commits war crimes by seeking to alter status & demography of IIOJK
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 5, 2022
The prime minister noted that while observing 5th of January as the Right to Self-Determination Day for the Kashmiris we reiterate our commitment to uphold the fundamental human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and pay homage to Kashmiris’ just struggle spanning more than seven decades.
On this day in 1949, the United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan (UNCIP) adopted a resolution which guaranteed Kashmiri people their inherent right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.
Imran Khan said that we are commemorating this day to remind the world community that it cannot abandon its moral and legal responsibilities towards the Kashmiri people.
The importance of the inalienable right to self-determination has been acknowledged in all important human rights covenants, decisions of the UN General Assembly, and Security Council.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the right to self-determination was granted to the Kashmiris by the United Nations and cannot be unilaterally denied by India. He said that three generations of Kashmiris have waited for the world community and the United Nations to honor their solemn commitments made to Kashmiris.
The prime minister said that Indian atrocities in IIOJK continue unabated but the courage and spirit of Kashmiris remain strong. He said that with the presence of 900,000 troops, India has turned the occupied territory into the largest open-air prison and the most militarized zone in the world.
The recent surge in the oppression of the people of IIOJK through arbitrary detentions, coercion, harassment and humiliation, and extra-judicial killings in staged encounters and cordon-and-search-operations is a matter of grave concern for the international community.
India’s illegal and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019 and subsequent measures, particularly pertaining to domicile rules and land ownership laws are aimed at changing the demographic structure of IIOJK and converting the Kashmiris into a minority in their own land.
These Indian actions are blatant violation of the international law especially the UN Charter, UN Security Council Resolutions, and the 4th Geneva Convention. Kashmiris have been deprived of their rights to life, food, health, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and above all the right to self-determination.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Pakistan calls upon the international community to demand from India an immediate end to its state-terrorism against Kashmiris and allow access to international human rights and humanitarian organizations to the occupied territory.
